Obituary:

Lt. Col. Richard H. Duff, Jr. USMC (Ret.) of Manassas, VA died suddenly on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014 at the age of 69.

Lt. Col. Duff earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Drexel University in Philadelphia and received his M.S. (with distinction) in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

A retired naval aviator and a Vietnam veteran, Lt.Col Duff was a career Marine officer, serving from 1968 to his retirement in 1989.  His last assignment was at the Pentagon. Formerly a presidential helicopter pilot, he flew Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

In retirement he was V.P. of Information Technology at Insight, Inc.  He was also the Deputy Team Lead of the National Museum of the Marine Corps Public Outreach Team.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Cheryl Davis Duff, his daughter Joanne Duff of Atlanta, GA and his son Richard Jeremy Duff and wife Jennifer, Grandsons Caleb and Aaron of Burke, VA.

A memorial service and burial were held at the Quantico National Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, the family requested contributions be made to the Marine corps Scholarship Foundation at mcsf.org or the Marine Corps Heritage Center at marineheritage.org.

[Published in The Washington Post on Oct. 23, 2014 and posted at legacy.com]